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Communications Specialist
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Summary
This posting may be used to establish a list of qualified candidates for Communication Specialist in the following 6-months February 2025 - August 2026.
About the Role:
King County Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) provides regional clean water services to nearly 2 million people across the Puget Sound region. WTD employees take a lot of pride in what they do delivering an essential service to the community. The Division is quite varied in its scopes of work – from operations to planners and community service staff – making for endless opportunities to showcase our people, programs, and initiatives and link them to strategic goals. WTD has a large effect on Puget Sound and sustainability in the region, making for meaningful and impactful work.
This position will play a critical role in advancing public and employee understanding and appreciation of the work of the Wastewater Treatment Division in protecting public health and the environment. The daily work is creative, social, varied, and highly collaborative. This position is situated within the Division Director’s Office and will collaborate across levels of the organization to advance our strategic communications goals under high standards of quality, accuracy, and timeliness. This position is ideal for someone who has progressive experience in communications in the government sector and who values working within a highly mission-driven organization.
About the Team:
Our mission is to protect public health and enhance the environment by collecting and treating wastewater while recycling valuable resources for the Puget Sound region. Our dedicated workforce plans, designs, builds, and operates treatment facilities while enforcing environmental regulations that reduce harmful waste discharged into the system, and we educated the public and businesses on ways to protect water quality. Nearly half of our employees are frontline workers who operate this essential service at our three regional wastewater treatment plants, two community plants, and at other offsite facilities. Tou our agency, success means clean water and a healthy environment. It means honoring our legacy while keeping a promise that the spectacular natural environment that defines our region will be protected for generations to come.
We are committed to the principles of equity and social justice, contributing to King County's True North values that make our region a welcoming place where every person can thrive. We value diverse perspectives and life experiences in our workforce and are committed to building a culturally diverse and inclusive environment. WTD strives to provide equitable services to residents and business across King County.
Commitment to Equity, Racial and Social Justice:
King County, named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is a diverse and vibrant community that represents cultures from around the world. Our True North is to create a welcoming community where everyone can thrive. We prioritize equity, racial and social justice, making it a foundational and daily expectation for all employees. As a Communications Specialist, you will actively apply these principles in all aspects of your work. Learn more about our commitment at http://www.kingcounty.gov/equity.
Apply now for a rewarding career at the Wastewater Treatment Division of King County Department of Natural Resources & Parks (DNRP). Join our talented workforce in protecting and restoring the natural environment and promoting more resilient, sustainable, and equitable communities. Enjoy training, comprehensive benefits, and growth opportunities.
Job Duties
What You Will Be Doing:
- Formulate and implement communications programs, plans, and strategies.
- Serve in a rotating emergency on-call communications response and as a secondary public information officer.
- Serve as a trusted communication partner to WTD leadership and cross-functional teams.
- Write and edit content to ensure high standards of quality, organizational voice, and alignment with strategic goals and messaging.
- Develop and maintain editorial calendar for external communications channels to ensure regular content, engagement, and evaluation of efforts.
Experience, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills
Qualifications You Bring:
- Five years or more progressive experience in a public information officer role.
- Experience formulating and implementing communications programs, plans, and strategies.
- Experience providing strategic communications counsel and advice to management and other internal customers on proposed policies and actions.
- Excellent writer with versatility in writing styles adaptive to the given format.
- Experience drafting messaging and talking points that are compelling, meaningful, informative, and align with strategic communications goals.
- Experience responding to media inquiries.
- Must be able to travel and work in the field at working facilities and serve as on-call emergency response.
- Manages Complexity - Making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems.
- Action Oriented - Taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm.
- Plans and Aligns - Planning and prioritizing work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals.
- Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
- Communicates Effectively - Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences.
- Proactive experience with media, including pitching stories and crafting story angles.
- Evaluating and summarizing success of communications efforts through outcomes/metrics reports that connect tactics to strategy or objectives.
- Experience with SharePoint and other multimedia.
Supplemental Information
Working Conditions:
- Work Details: The Communications team works in a hybrid model, with days in the office as well as telecommuting. The ratio of remote to onsite work will be dependent on the business needs and is subject to change. The primary onsite location is the collaboration space at King Street Center - 201 S. Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98104, additional onsite locations may include: West Point Treatment Plant, 1400 Discovery Park Blvd. Seattle, South Treatment Plant 1200 Monster Road S.W., Renton, Brightwater Treatment Plant 22505 State Route 9 S.E., Woodinville.
- Requirement: Employees must reside in Washington State and be within a reasonable distance to King County worksites to meet onsite reporting requirements. King County has a robust collection of tools and resources to support working remotely. The individual selected for this opportunity will join an innovative and progressive team that is redefining how we work as we transition to the department's hybrid environment. Employees will be provided with a County-issued laptop and must maintain a home workspace with an internet connection where they can reliably perform work and remain available and responsive during scheduled work hours.
- Work Schedule: This position is exempt from the overtime provision of the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) and is not overtime eligible.
- Union Representation: This position is represented by Teamsters Local 117 - Wastewater Treatment Division, Professional & Technical and Administrative bargaining unit.
- Physical Requirement: Must be able to travel and work in the field at working facilities and serve as on-call emergency response
- Duration: This recruitment aims to fill a Special Duty Assignment / Term-Limited Temporary (TLT) position with an anticipated duration of 1 year. If the position is filled by a King County employee who has successfully completed their initial probation, they will be offered the role as a Special Duty Assignment.
Application and Selection Process:
We welcome applications from all qualified applicants. We value diversity, diverse perspectives and life experience and encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. Application materials will be screened for clarity, completeness and alignment with the experience, qualifications, knowledge, and skills essential for this role to determine which candidates may be invited to participate in one or more panel interviews.
We welcome applications from all qualified applicants. We value diversity, diverse perspectives and life experience and encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. Application materials will be screened for clarity, completeness and alignment with the experience, qualifications, knowledge, and skills essential for this role to determine which candidates may be invited to participate in one or more panel interviews.
Anticipated Timeline for this recruitment: (subject to change)
- Technical vetting interview: Virtual interviews will be held in February 2026
- Panel interview: Virtual interviews will be held the held in February 2026
To apply, submit a:
- Complete Application
- Resume
- Cover Letter
- Responses to the supplemental questions
Note: Additional documents won't be considered during minimum qualification screening.
Who to Contact: For more information regarding this recruitment, please contact Diana Eberly at diana.eberly@kingcounty.gov
Discover More About the Wastewater Treatment Division: Visit our website and check us out at Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, and the WTD Blog.
Discover More About DNRP: Visit our DNRP website, explore an interactive map of our recent accomplishments and check us out at Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Keeping King County Green News.
Sign up for Job Alerts to be notified of additional career opportunities with King County. Select the Natural Resources category for DNRP opportunities and explore other categories of interest.
Forbes named King County as one of Washington State's best employers.
Together, with leadership and our employees, we're changing the way government delivers service and winning national recognition as a model of excellence. Are you ready to make a difference? Come join the team dedicated to serving one of the nation's best places to live, work and play.
Guided by our "True North", we are making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. We value diversity, inclusion and belonging in our workplace and workforce. To reach this goal we are committed to workforce equity. Equitable recruiting, support, and retention is how we will obtain the highest quality workforce in our region; a workforce that shares and will help advance our guiding principles - we are one team; we solve problems; we focus on the customer; we drive for results; we are racially just; we respect all people; we lead the way; and we are responsible stewards. We encourage people of all backgrounds and identities to apply, including Native American and people of color, immigrants, refugees, women, LGBTQ+, people living with disabilities, and veterans.
King County is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Employer
No person is unlawfully excluded from employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation and pregnancy), age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or other protected class. Our EEO policy applies to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, selection for training, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation.
To Apply
If you are interested in pursuing this position, please follow the application instructions carefully. If you need this announcement in an alternate language or format, would like to request accommodation or assistance in the application or assessment process or if you have questions, please contact the recruiter listed on this job announcement.
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